How can we help people to think about and prepare for the end of their life?

It is not unusual for all of us to leave or avoid the hard conversations about preparing for the end of life.

However, it is often easier to have these conversations earlier, even when there is no indication that we are anywhere near the end of our life.

Dying Matters has a range of excellent publications to help people to have conversations about death, and we have worked with FINK cards to create a set of cards to support these conversations.

Around the country, there are ‘Death Cafes’ which are an opportunity for a cup of tea and a conversation about death and dying. There are some good apps being developed as well, like the Legacy App, which is a record of important photos, music, events, memoirs, farewells and a will. Sometimes one of the best ways to start a conversation is to share your own thoughts and plans for the end of your life. You can use ‘Living Well and Planning for the end of your life’ to help.

This has a range of person-centred thinking tools that can also contribute to thinking and planning for the end of your life, whether in hard copy or online. Madge and her family used Living Well to think together about the end of her life, and you can see her completed version here. Sometimes the person and their family have different ideas and perspectives. Michelle used a person-centred thinking tool to think with her dad about the end of his life, and to negotiate where they had different views. You can read about this in her blog.